The present invention relates to a prefabricated stairway for use with a building or other structure.
Prefabricated concrete steps have been used to provide access to houses, mobile homes, mobile trailers and other buildings and structures. Such prefabricated concrete steps are heavy and bulky, requiring special equipment to transport and properly position at the building or structure site and can be perceived as unattractive.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved prefabricated stairway for use with a building or other structure where the stairway is relatively lightweight, requiring no special equipment to facilitate transport and proper positioning at the building or structure site, and yet sturdy enough to withstand loads encountered in use, is resistant to wear, chemicals, and weather, and offers improved stairway aesthetics.
The present invention provides in one embodiment a stairway comprising a one-piece base having a plurality of riser surfaces and tread surfaces forming steps and an optional landing surface. A preformed tread member is fastened on a respective one of the tread surfaces of the base, and a preformed landing member fastened on the landing surface, if present.
The base preferably comprises a front wall region, first and second sidewall regions and a rear wall region integrally formed with the riser surfaces and tread surfaces as one-piece.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tread surfaces and the optional landing surface are configured to include an integral reinforcement surface region, such as an integral reinforcement rib extending along a length of each tread surface and the landing surface, if present. The reinforcement rib has a concave cross-sectional configuration residing below a plane defined by the respective tread surface and the landing surface. The first and second sidewall regions and rear wall region each include a plurality of integral reinforcement ribs extending from proximate a respective tread or landing surface toward a lowermost decorative skirt of the one-piece base.
The base preferably comprises one or more outer filled resin layers and one or more inner fiber reinforced filled resin layers applied on the outer filled resin layer(s).
The preformed tread members and the landing member preferably comprise of an outer ceramic filled gelcoat layer and a fiber reinforced filled resin layer and are attached to the respective tread surfaces and landing surface using fasteners. The fasteners preferably are captured in part in each tread member and landing member during molding so as to be integral therewith.
The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the following drawings.